Method and apparatus for loading bottles into open top bottle carriers

A bottle carrier loading machine comprising conveyor means having upper and lower reaches for continuously supplying to a loading station a series of set-up multiple cell bottle carriers arranged in abutting contact, the bottom of each cell having an aperture formed therein, a fixed dead plate disposed above the path of movement of said carriers and having its outfeed end at said loading station, pusher means including a series of generally wedge shaped pusher elements mounted on endless means disposed above said dead plate and arranged to supply to said loading station a continuous series of bottles slidable on said dead plate and in generally upright side-by-side relation, each pusher element being arranged to engage and to push a preceding bottle toward the outfeed end of said dead plate and to engage and guide a succeeding bottle downwardly as it drops off of the outfeed end of said dead plate, a plurality of movable positioning pins arranged respectively to enter corresponding apertures in the bottoms of the carrier cells so as to move the carriers through the loading station in such manner that the carriers receive bottles as they slide off of the outfeed end of said dead plate, said positioning pins being mounted on endless means the upper reach of which at the location where the bottles contact the pins is unsupported throughout its entire width and somewhat yieldable intermediate its ends so that downward movement of the bottles is arrested by a cushioned stop due to engagement of the bottles with the positioning pins at the unsupported portion of the conveyor intermediate the ends of the upper reach of said endless means.